5 steps: Teach you how to plan live streaming sales from 0 to 1

As the momentum of live streaming sales is getting stronger and stronger, many traditional enterprises and small and medium-sized businesses have joined the ranks of live streaming sales, and live streaming sales have even become a life-saving straw for all walks of life. But for companies with zero experience, this is not so easy. How to build a team, how to select products, and how to do live streaming have all become difficult problems. This article solves these problems one by one, and teaches you how to plan live streaming sales from 0 to 1, hoping to provide help for you in need.

In 2016, live streaming e-commerce first entered the public eye. With the rapid development of short video platforms, the momentum of live streaming sales has become increasingly fierce. With the emergence of the epidemic in 2020, live streaming sales have even become a life-saving straw for all walks of life.

In 2023, the trend of live streaming sales is still on the rise.

More and more traditional companies have joined the short video and live broadcast track, and now it has become an important channel for many small and medium-sized businesses to realize their profits. But for some companies that are just starting to do live broadcasting, it is not so easy. How to build a team, how to select products, and how to do live broadcasting have all become difficult problems.

Next, let’s talk about how merchants can plan live streaming sales. These experiences can be used as reference and reused whether in Douyin or video accounts.

Live streaming sales from 0 to 1 includes the following steps:

1. Building a live broadcast team

2. Key points for selecting products for live streaming

3. Live broadcast preparation

4. Live broadcast script and process

5. Dimensions of live broadcast review

1. Building a live broadcast team

If you want to carry out live streaming sales for a long time, it is difficult to do it well by one person alone, so you must first set up a live streaming team. The most important thing is planning and execution, and the entire team needs at least 4 people.

1. Operation (1 person)

Operations is responsible for the overall live broadcast rhythm, specific tasks:

• Plan normal live broadcast content. Determine whether the theme of the live broadcast is daily live broadcast or official event live broadcast, and then match the goods and interest points according to the theme. Also plan the broadcast time period, traffic and traffic sources, live broadcast gameplay, etc.
• Team coordination. On the one hand, there is external coordination, such as the shooting of the cover photo, the distribution of prizes, and the coordination of the warehouse department; on the other hand, there is internal coordination, including coordinating the live broadcast time of the live broadcast personnel, problems that arise during the live broadcast, etc.
• After the live broadcast is completed , we should first conduct a detailed data review based on the performance of the department staff and the feedback from user data, and compare it with the plans and goals formulated in the early stage, learn from the experience, summarize the lessons, and strive for improvement next time.

2. Field control (1 person)

The main function of the field control is to implement the live broadcast plan, assist the anchor to follow the plan and ensure the smooth progress of the live broadcast.

• Before broadcasting, debug related software and hardware.
• After the broadcast starts, you will be responsible for all related backend operations of the central console, including live broadcast push, announcements, product listings, etc.
• Data monitoring . Real-time monitoring of data including the peak number of online users and product click-through rates, etc., and feedback to the live broadcast operator when abnormal situations occur.
• Receiving and conveying instructions. For example, if the live broadcast operation has information to convey, the field control must convey it to the anchor and assistant, and let them tell the audience.

3. Anchor (1 person)

The anchor is the protagonist of the entire live broadcast process, and is both a product explainer and a salesperson. Specific tasks:

• Before the broadcast begins , you must be able to control the rhythm of the entire live broadcast, familiarize yourself with product features, scripts, points of interest, etc., achieve a relatively fluent level of expression, and facilitate user conversion.
• During the live broadcast , pay attention to livening up the atmosphere of the live broadcast room, answer fans' questions and interact with fans, guide new fans to pay attention and users to place orders, and always pay attention to your performance in front of the camera.
• After the broadcast , if the anchor is a professional anchor trained by the company, the company needs to use more channels to build and promote the anchor's IP in daily operations, such as store main pictures, store homepage posters, store groups, etc., as well as continuous operation and exposure on new media platforms such as the anchor's personal WeChat group, WeChat account, and Douyin. Only when the anchor continuously improves exposure and strengthens personal IP branding can it attract more users and establish stronger trust in the future.

4. Assistant (1 person)

The main duties of the anchor assistant are to assist the anchor in displaying products and interacting with the audience.

• Before the show starts, you need to confirm whether the goods, samples and props are ready.
• During the live broadcast, he needs to cooperate with the venue control to coordinate with the anchor. When there are many viewers and the anchor is explaining, he can help with interactive Q&A, link sending, product display and merchandise sorting, etc.

The above four positions are standard for companies to do live broadcasts, and companies can also adjust them according to actual conditions.

2. Key points of live product selection

There are two types of product selection: one is to sell the company's own brand or products produced by the live broadcast, and the other is to sell other people's products that are recruited by investors. At this time, the dimensions of selection will be different.

If you are selling your own products, the products you choose must have four characteristics : high cost-effectiveness, meet current needs, have good user reputation, and have great fan demand .

If you are selling someone else's products, you must first analyze the company's audience and find out what types of products and prices the users like based on their user portraits. The second step is to analyze whether the selected product itself meets the needs of the company's audience.

Usually we can divide products into three categories: traffic-generating products, hot-selling products, and profit-making products . The functions of each product are as follows:

• Traffic generation: used to generate traffic in live broadcast rooms, also known as welfare generation. The characteristics of this type of product are wide audience, low unit price and high cost performance.
• Hot-selling products: The main purpose is to promote transactions and boost sales. Generally, as the main product of live broadcast activities, the frequency and duration of the host's explanation will be longer. The characteristics of this type of product are usually not as low as the traffic-generating products, but they can also be accepted by most users.
• Profit payment: It is mainly to ensure the profit of the entire live broadcast. The characteristics of this type of product are high quality, unique selling points, and users are not very price sensitive to this type of product.

Different types of live broadcast rooms can refer to different quantities of selected products:

• Factories and single product suppliers: Suitable for promoting only 1-2 hot products. Don’t worry about the single product, just focus on the selling point of the product. For example, water cups, garbage bags, umbrellas and other products.
• Small and medium-sized anchors: Suitable for promoting 5-6 products. They need both leading products to attract traffic and popular and profitable products to maintain the normal operation of live broadcasting.
• Big anchor: More than 20 products. Big anchors with large and stable traffic can promote various types of products.

Other notes:

• When selecting products, you need to carefully check the catalogues that are prohibited from sale on the platform, such as medical products, financial investment information, high-end imitations, and other products.
• Don’t just follow the big anchors in selecting products. Big anchors can get extremely low prices, and small anchors can hardly have an advantage.
• Product selection should be based on the positioning of the live broadcast account and the target audience, and don’t just sell whatever you like.

3. Live broadcast preparation

1. Live broadcast room layout

1) Basic equipment

Equipped according to the size of the live broadcast room

• Basic model : a computer, a live streaming mobile phone, and 2-3 lights;
• Medium : 2 computers, 3-4 professional lights (face light, background light, contour light), 1 HD camera;
• Large : more than three computers, more than five professional standard color temperature lights (front light, contour light, background light, top light, 2-3 high-definition cameras), one large monitor

2) Background layout

Usually the entire live broadcast room is divided into 6 areas:

• Background area: product display, brand display, and image display;
• Middle area: anchor explanation area, upper body overall display, anchor operation demonstration;
• Entering the scenic area: details and texture display;
• Products to be explained area: Products to be explained during the entire live broadcast are placed;
• Lighting area: where to place lights and where to install them;
• Central console area: The area where computers are placed, responsible for listing and changing prices of products in real time according to the host's rhythm.

Depending on the type of product, additional props may be required. For example, clothing products require hangers and mannequins/real models; beauty and skin care products require special makeup mirrors.

3) Lighting arrangement

Lights usually include key light, auxiliary light, contour light, ambient light, etc. Key light can improve the brightness of the character's face; auxiliary light can supplement the shadow and dark area of ​​the character; contour light can outline the character's lines and highlight the anchor; ambient light can evenly cover the entire environment to make the picture clearer.

Lighting principles : The live broadcast lighting should match the background color and should not be fancy. White walls are prone to overexposure, so do not shine the light directly on the wall. It is recommended to use dark gray or light brown as the background color to highlight the anchor.

Choose lighting colors according to different types of products. For example, beauty and skin care products are mostly white cold light to ensure the best display of cosmetics; food products use warm-colored lights to highlight the color of food and make the audience more appetizing.

4) Props preparation

You can prepare some extra props to enhance the atmosphere of the live broadcast room. For example:

• Display board/small blackboard: Display size/color number to reduce customer service pressure; display the day's welfare products; write clearly the delivery status and special instructions.
• Calculator/Stopwatch: Do the math for fans; create a sense of urgency when buying.

2) Live test

Some steps to test:

a. Test your account before live streaming to see if you can see the live streaming screen normally;

b. Test whether the live broadcast network speed meets the standard and whether the picture is stuck;

c. Test the functions needed in the live broadcast room to see if they can be used normally;

d. Test the host’s speaking volume and whether the background music is normal;

e. Test whether the live broadcast room bullet screen can be displayed and replied normally;

f. Test whether the products in the live broadcast room can be put on and taken off the shelves and their prices can be changed normally;

g. If a microphone connection is required during the live broadcast, test whether the two parties can communicate normally and whether the images and volume of both parties are normal.

4. Live Streaming Script and Process

1. Live broadcast script preparation

There are three important links in script planning.

1) The first is the live broadcast script design. This includes the time, theme, product selling points, and oral scripts of the live broadcast. You also need to think about the following questions: What is the process of a live broadcast, what are its highlights and positioning? How to create a sales scene or attract users to buy, and how to set the transaction path? How to constantly catch the user's eye and attract their attention throughout the live broadcast?

2) The second step is to rehearse and test the live broadcast script. This step is very important. No matter how good the script is, it needs to be carefully practiced before going on stage. Everyone in the live broadcast team must have a clear division of labor, control the script time, rehearse the whole process, and check the product materials. The rehearsal test should be accurately calculated to ensure that the live broadcast is as foolproof as possible.

3) The third step is to conduct an internal trial broadcast of the live broadcast and retest key points. This entire process requires simulation drills in a real environment to identify problems and train the team's coordination and tacit understanding. Once these are completed, adjustments can be made based on feedback.

2. Live broadcast process arrangement

The length of corporate live broadcasts varies, and the specific content of live broadcasts is also different. Take the one-hour clothing live broadcast schedule from 8 to 9 p.m. as an example:

As you can see, a live broadcast is mainly divided into the following stages: warm-up, lucky draw, product introduction, order guidance, and next episode preview. If the duration is longer, you can add some product explanations and interactive sessions to keep the audience's attention and activity. I have summarized the main means and contents of the activities into the following five types:

5. Dimensions of Live Broadcast Review

It is important to keep reviewing. By analyzing various data, you can find and improve problems in the live broadcast, and then find corresponding methods to better complete the next live broadcast.

When it comes to live streaming sales, data can be analyzed mainly from two dimensions: live streaming data and e-commerce data.

1. Live data

The live broadcast data includes the session number, date, live broadcast duration/hours, on-site PV and UV, fan traffic share, comment share, peak number of online users, average number of online users, average fan viewing time per person, number of new fans, and conversion rate.

Among them, the key data are:

• Average number of online users: This data directly determines whether the account has the monetization capability of live streaming and selling goods. Usually, when the average number of users reaches several hundred, the basic conditions for selling goods are met.
• Number of viewers: The size of the number of viewers determines the level of the traffic pool your live broadcast room is in, and is a key indicator to measure the popularity of the live broadcast room.
• Average dwell time: reflects whether the live broadcast content is attractive, which generally depends on the anchor's ability to retain viewers and select products. Generally, an average dwell time of more than 2 minutes is considered an excellent level.
• Interaction rate: reflects the interaction with users and is related to some live broadcasting skills, such as welcome messages for new fans, interactive games, and product selling point introductions.
• Fan conversion rate: reflects the ability of the live broadcast room to attract new fans. A good anchor can achieve more than 5%, which is related to the anchor's personal ability, products, and scenes.

2. E-commerce data

E-commerce data includes the number of transactions, sales, conversion rate, proportion of fans’ orders, UV value, and average order value.

Among them, the key data are:

• Average order value: Average order value reflects the purchasing level of customers in the live broadcast room. Product pricing, sales policy, product selection mix, etc. will all affect the average order value.
• Number of transactions: can be used to evaluate the traffic value of the live broadcast room and the conversion of potential customers.
• Conversion rate: It is used to evaluate the sales efficiency of live broadcasts. Usually the industry average is around 1%, and good anchors can achieve more than 3%.

3. Review common violations

In addition to some points that need to be paid attention to in data analysis, you should also pay attention to some common violations in live broadcasts to avoid pitfalls:

• Place a QR code in the live broadcast room or promote the WeChat account verbally
• The live broadcast camera has no one for a long time
• Some dirty words and sensitive words were used during the live broadcast
• Attacking other platforms during live broadcasts
• The attire during the live broadcast does not meet the requirements

Only by discovering the problems that exist in yourself and your team during the live broadcast process and correcting them, making each live broadcast gradually perfect, taking small steps and iterating quickly, can you go further and faster.

6. Final Thoughts

Although the benefits of live streaming e-commerce are gradually weakening and many top anchors have failed, it has also provided opportunities for many small and medium-sized anchors. I believe that the live streaming e-commerce industry will by no means be a flash in the pan.

With the development of video platforms and the increasing standardization of the industry, 2023 will still be the year of explosive growth in live streaming e-commerce.

Author: Yan Tao; Editor: Wu Tong

WeChat public account: Yan Tao Sanshou (ID: yantao-219)